


Time After Time

by DepressingGreenie



Series: Tiny Reverse Bang 2020 [13]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Artist Steve Rogers, Breaking Up & Making Up, Camping, Childhood Friends, First Meetings, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Growing Up, Growing Up Together, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced character illness, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Meet-Cute, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Swearing, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, War Veteran Steve Rogers, friends to lovers to friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26317993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DepressingGreenie/pseuds/DepressingGreenie
Summary: It was Steve Rogers for him, always was. Ever since they were young.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Tiny Reverse Bang 2020 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1836148
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37
Collections: 2020 Cap/Iron Man Tiny Reverse Bang





	1. When We Were Young

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Sweet Life...](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25286008) by [imaginestevetony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginestevetony/pseuds/imaginestevetony). 



> **Code Name:** Commander ~ (Round 5)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Early Childhood

**_~11 Years Old~_ **

As the group around him stands up and cheers Tony makes his escape. He wasn’t into polo, or any sport really. He’d rather be in his dorm working on his robot.

Nobody notices his escape.

‘Sport of kings? Yeah right’ he thinks to himself. Kings were supposed to like cool things like jousting, and sword fights, and jesters. Polo would be so much cooler if they were using swards instead of those mallets. Or lasers. Lasers made everything better. He was defiantly going to put lasers on his robot.

Free from the school group, Tony wonders around the stadium looking for something interesting to do. There was 2-3 hours to kill before his group would be heading back to the boarding school.

He looks around the buildings looking for something he could dismantle and play with, but there was wasn’t much around.

Tony heads over to the stables, figuring that that must at least have some tools around there that he could play with.

As he approaches the stables he hears a quiet voice, talking to themselves. Or maybe a horse. Tony walks up slowly, sneaking up to the stable the voice was coming from.

Inside the stable is a small blond kid sitting on a stool talking to one of the horses. The kid’s clothes are dirty and patched together, Tony is sure that he is not from his school. There was no way Headmaster Bain would allow anyone to wear something as old and gross as that. It would be 10 lashings with the rod earned for sure.

In the kids hand was a tatty book that looked about ready to fall apart. Tony eyes the book curiously, intrigued by the sketches he sees on the open page.

“What are you doing back here?” Tony asks the boy, making him jump.

The boy hides the book behind his back, his face going bright red.

“Uhhh” the boy says. “Nothing bad. I promise”

Tony shrugs “I believe you, but what are you doing?”

“I’m drawing the horses.” The boy says, eyes wide and frightened. “Please don’t rat me out”

“I won’t” Tony promises “Who are you anyway?”

“Steve Rogers” The boy, Steve, answers.

“Tony Stark” He offers. His eyes fall to the book in Steve’s hands. “Can I see?” he asks, pointing at the book.

Steve nods, passing him the sketch book. It is held together with tape, and stuffed with what looks like hundreds of loose pages. The cover his warn and stuffed, the spine bent and broken. It feels like it would fall apart in his fingers. But instead one of the dusty books is mother collects, this feels loved, precious.

Despite how eager he is to see the drawing he opens the book carefully, slowly turning the pages as he looks through its contents. The art was really cool, a lot of rocket ships, animals and monsters.

“Can you draw me?” he asks.

“I’m not that good” Steve says, his face going all red again.

Tony passing the book back to Steve. “I think it looks good” he says.

Steve shrugs, looking down at his feet. “I’m only good at drawing animals”

“Draw me as an animal then” Tony says.

Steve face brakes out into a huge grin at Tony’s suggestion. “Okay” The boy says, opening the book to a new page. “What animal?”

“Surprise me?” Tony says “…But make it cool”

* * *

**  
~13 Years Old~**

Tony wakes with a huge grin on his face. He launches himself out of bed, barely taking the time to get dressed before rushing down to the kitchen.

His father looks up from his newspaper with a frown at Tony excited entrance. “Why the rush, boy? Your presents aren’t going to run away. _Really_. Some self-control would be appreciated. You’re going to be a _man_ soon.”

“Howard!” His mother scolds. “It’s his birthday. It’s perfectly fine for Anthony to be excited.”

If it were any other day, Tony would have been hurt by his father’s words. But not today. It wasn’t the presents he was excited for. “Has the mail come yet?” he asks.

His parents both share a look with one another.

“Yes, darling, it arrived not long ago” his mother says.

“Anything for me? An A4 envelope, maybe?” He rocks back and forth on the heels of his feet excitedly.

“Yes, there was one…” his mother says slowly, giving his dad another look.

“Can I have it?” he asks, slowly growing impatient.

“It’s on the counter, next to your birthday presents” His father says.

Before for his father had even finished Tony was turning towards the counter and rushing over. And there it is. A plain white envelope addressed to him. From Steve.

He grabs the letter and quickly heads out of the room. He makes it to the stairs before his mother calls out to him. “What about your presents, darling?”

Tony turns to face her where she was standing in the kitchen doorway. “I’ll open them later. I promise.” Then continues up the stairs.

He throws himself onto his bed when he makes it to his room.

With careful fingers he opens the envelope. He slides out the artwork. A rocket dragon… in space… firing plasma blasts at a bunch of evil ice-rock monsters. Tony lets out a delighted laugh and hugs the letter to his chest.

He gets up from his bed and goes to his desk. Tony pulls out his roll of electrical tape and sticks the artwork to the wall above his desk.

Tony steps back and admires the artwork on the wall, right next to all the other artwork Steve had drawn from over the years. Grinning from ear to ear.

_Best. Birthday. EVER!_


	2. Remember Me Fondly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teenage years

**~15 Years Old~**

Tony watches as Steve throws another branch into the campfire, listening to the crackly of the flames drown out the sounds of the forest around them.

Steve looks up from the fire and gives Tony a smile. And Tony returns it easily. It was always easier to smile and laugh around Steve. There was never that weight of having to be someone else, being that something special everyone sees in him – which everyone wants a part of.

With Steve he was just Tony. He didn’t have to be special. He didn’t have to parade his talents. He didn’t need to behave ‘properly’. He didn’t need to give Steve any expensive gifts to keep him around. He could be filthy, covering in oil, grease and corn chip dust and it wouldn’t drive Steve away. He doesn’t need to put on a fancy suit to play video games with Steve.

Steve Rogers who happily went camping with him whenever Tony wanted to get away from the world for just a moment. Steve Rogers who has a smile as bright as the sun despite what the world has thrown at him, who shines so brightly as if he belongs hung up within the stars. Steve Rogers saw him as he really is and chooses to say. And really, Tony thought _that_ was something special. The guy had to be the most kind and genuine people Tony has ever known. Steve just had this ways of making him feel comfortable and seen in all the ways he wanted to be seen.

He was glad to have met Steve. Tony lays down on his sleeping-bag and looks up at the stars above them. He watches them sparkle in the sky, taking in the calm surrounding him, letting his mind slowdown and relax for the first time in _weeks_.

Tony looks over to Steve when he hears him approach, leaves crunching under his boots. He watches as Steve lays down on his own sleeping-bag that was pressed up against his own.

“It’s a beautiful night, huh?” Steve says, looking up at the stars with a soft smile bathed in the warm glow of the fire.

“Yeah” Tony says, looking at the stars reflected Steve’s clear blue eyes. “It is” He looks back up at the sky above them.

Minutes pass as they watch the stars in silence. Despite the beautiful view above them, Tony’s mind thinks about the way Steve looks beside him. Butterflies dance in restlessly his stomach the more he thinks about Steve.

Tony rolls over towards Steve, biting his bottom lip.

“Tony?” Steve asks, looking over at him with a concerned frown. “You okay?”

Gathering his courage, Tony takes a deep breath and leans forward, pressing his lips against Steve.

Steve gasps and pulls back slightly. And Tony worries for a second if he’d hurt him. If he had gone in too hard, too fast. If he did it wrong.

But then Steve is kissing back. And it’s like the butterflies in his stomach have only become more excited.

It’s wonderful. It’s terrifying. He doesn’t think he’s ever been happier. He’s so nervous he thinks he’s going to be sick. It’s nothing like he’d ever thought it would be like. It’s far from perfect, but’s it’s everything to him.

* * *

**~16 Years Old~**

Tony puts down the bottle of sunscreen beside him in the van and watches as Steve lays down the towels under their umbrella. He runs his hands down his pants, anxiously straightening out the wrinkles.

Going out on trips like this with Steve always made him feel better. But he knows that they would be fewer and fewer of them as time when on. They would have to be getting ready for college and Tony would have to start preparing to take over the reins at his father’s company. Trips like this will become a thing of the past. And Tony isn’t sure he’s ready to face the world head on yet without the shelter of these moments with Steve.

He is startled from his thoughts by the sound of Steve hopping up into the van.

“Were all set.” Steve says, picking up the cooler. “Ready to begin our day of sands and surf?”

“Yeah” Tony says, lacking the same enthusiasm. He gets up and reaches out his hand towards Steve. Steve takes his hand and hand in hand they walk down to their area of the empty beach.

Steve sets down the cooler above the towels, giving Tony a look. “What’s up?” he asks.

Tony lays down on his towel with a sigh. “I don’t know…” he says.

“Nah…” Steve says.

“What?”

“Why’d you be so down if you didn’t know what was making you feel down?”

“That… doesn’t hold water logically, Steve”

“Neither does keeping what’s upsetting you to yourself when you have people you can talk to” Steve says. “I’m here for you, Tony. You know I’ll listen”

“I know. God. Fuck, Steve. Don’t use my own damn words against me” Tony says, covering his face with his hands.

“Well, I know that you can argue against your own logic.” Steve says, bumping his shoulder against Tony’s. “Talk to me.”

“It’s just… the future” he says.

Steve’s face falls. His boyfriend stares off into the distance, looking as lost as he felt, tormented. The man takes a shaky breath in and lets it out as a long sigh. “Oh” Steve says.

 _‘And this is why I didn’t want to bring it up’_ Tony thinks to himself.

He knows the past few months have been practically hard for Steve. Especially with his mother going in and out of hospital this year maybe more times that Steve has in his life, which was saying something. He knows that Steve had no idea how the future is going to play out, how scared he is. The last thing he wants to do is to add more worries on top of that.

“Yeah.” Tony says. He decides to just open up with it all and talk to Steve. Hiding it seemed to effect Steve was much as telling him would. “I just wonder how things would change, you know, in the future. If we would still be doing stuff like this…”

“Of course we will” Steve says, reaching over to take Tony’s hand in his own.

“But how do you know? We’re going to be busier. We’ll have school… I’ll be taking over my father’s business. We won’t have time for this. And I don’t know if I-…”

“We’ll make the time.” Steve says, staring deep into his eyes.

“Okay.” Tony says, looking away from Steve to watch the waves crash against the shore. “Okay. Sure. It’s all planning… right? We can do that.”

Steve hums in agreement, giving his hand an encouraging squeeze.

Tony looks back over at Steve. “What are your plans? …For the future?” he asks.

Steve shrugs, “I don’t know” the man says.

“Nah” Tony says, earning a laugh from Steve.

“I… I really don’t know, Tony. You have your whole future planned out for you with STARKIndustries. You know what you’re good at and what you can do. Even if you don’t take over the business, you have hundreds, hell, thousands of options at your fingertips.”

“I guess.” Tony says. “There’s got to be something though. You must have some idea of what you want for your future.”

“I don’t know, Tony. I’m only really go at drawing”

“That’s not true. You are good at lots of things, Steve”

“Yeah, sure, but how many of them would actually lead me to a carrier I could actually get into. I don’t know what I want to do.” Steve sighs. “I probably won’t be able to afford college, not with all mom’s hospital bills. And I wouldn’t know what I’d want to study either.”

Tony pulls Steve into his arms and holds him close. “I’m sure you find something” he whispers into Steve’s hair. He wonders to himself if he could convince his parents to pay for Mrs Rogers’ hospital bills. It’d be like a drop in the well for them, but he knows it would make things so much easier so his boyfriend.

“Maybe you could work for me” He says, pressing a kiss behind Steve’s ear. “You could be my secretary.” He runs his tongue up Steve’s neck, making the man shiver. “We could have _secret liaisons_.” He nibbles Steve’s ear. “Roll around on my desk, making out on top of all my paper work” He pulls back and presses a kiss to Steve’s nose. “I’m just saying… it’s an option”

Steve laughs, burring his head in Tony’s chest. And Tony joins him.

The weight hasn’t been lifted from their hearts. But it feels lighter.

* * *

**~17 Years Old~**

When Tony wakes up the first thing he feels is regret. Not the bad kind, he doesn’t regrets what happened between them last night, because that was _awesome!_ But it’s more of the _‘we are idiots’_ type of regret.

With a groan Tony rolls over towards Steve and wraps his arms around Steve’s naked body. He peppers little kisses up and down Steve’s spine until the man wakes up.

“Tony…” his boyfriend groans, rolling over into Tony’s arms. “Wha’time isit?”

“Early…ish? I don’t know” Tony says, not wanting to roll over to check the clock.

Steve huffs, and snuggles up closer to him, falling back asleep.

“Steve? Steeve? Stevie? Steeeeve? Steve! C’mon. We have to get up”

“No. I’mwarm” Steve mumbles.

“Well, that’s nice. We still have to get up though. My folks are going to be awake soon.”

Steve stretches out with a loud moan. “Okay” he says, making no move to actually get up.

“Steve!”

The man opens his eyes and looks up at him. “Okay, Fine.” Steve says with a yawn. “I’m getting’ up”

“You’re a nightmare, Rogers” Tony groans.

“You like it” Steve says, shooting him a smirk.

“Yeah, I do” Tony laughs.

Tony watches as Steve pads across his room naked, picking up his clothes from the floor. Steve had really started to fill out in the last couple of months, going from small and scrawny to tall and muscled. Tony’s mother likes to joke that it’s because of all the food Steve eats over here, but the thought always makes his heart clench painfully.

He was handsome. Tony had always thought he was handsome, but that was beside the point. Standing in the middle of Tony’s room, he was the most gorgeous person Tony had ever seen.

Steve pulls his shirt over his head, tugging his sleeve over the triskelion tattoo on his right arm before stepping into his boxers. He leans over to pick up one of his socks off the floor, giving Tony a great view of his ass.

“Are you not getting up?” Steve asks, straining up. He pulls up the hem of his shirt to wipe his face, showing off his sculptured chest and the tree of life tattooed under his right pec.

“Just enjoying the show” Tony says with a grin.

Steve throws his sock at Tony’s head, missing him. Tony laughs grabbing one of his pillows up off the bed to defend himself as Steve dives onto the bed.

The man wraps around him tightly, pinning him to the bed. “If you don’t have to get up, I don’t either. I think I will stay here all day.”

“STEVE!” Tony laughs. “Get off!”

“Nah” Steve says, pressing a kiss to Tony’s chin. “Don’t think I will”

“Steve, c’mon” he says, giving Steve a light shove.

“You’re so warm and comfy. I think I’ll just live here forever. We’ll never move from this spot”

Tony wishes they could stay like this forever. But the world won’t stop for them, he had to go out with his mother today to a charity function. He’d much rather stay here with Steve then go. But it was something he needed to do, he needed to know how to talk to people for when he was the head of STARKIndusties.

“Steve…” he groans. In the back of his mind he wonders if he can hide Steve under his bed, tell his mother he’s sick so he can skip out of the charity event. But he know that it wouldn’t work.

“You don’t want me to be all cold, do you?” Steve pouts.

“I think you’ll live”

“Oh, I’ll live alright. I won’t be happy about it, but I’ll live”

“You’re such a dork, Steve” Tony says. “You know we have to get up”

“Yeah, Yeah. Alright” Steve says, kissing Tony’s cheek before rolling off him.

They both get up and get dressed. Tony gives Steve a goodbye kiss before the man sneaks out of the mansion.

Tony heads over to the kitchen to find some breakfast. His father sits at the table reading the morning paper.

“Morning” Tony says, heading over to the fridge.

“You know, you could have waited until you married him before sleeping with my son” his father says.

Tony freezes.

_‘What?’_

He turns around to look at his father who was still reading the paper as if nothing had happened, like nothing was said. Anger burns through his heart.

Tony could take being judged for his hobbies, how he presents himself, his personal projects. But who he loves? That he wouldn’t take.

“You-…” he says, but the rest of his words don’t come. His anger quickly turns into confusion as he thinks back to his father’s words. “What?” Tony chokes.

_‘Did he just call Steve his son?’_

He was pretty sure he had misheard what his father had said. He had to have. There was no way… But…

Tony gives his father a small, timid smile.

His father clears his throat and looks down at his paper. “Look, I won’t lie. Your mother and I had hoped you’d find a nice girl to settle down with” his father says. “But for what it’s worth… there are plenty on men out there, I’m just glad you went for one of the goods ones”

“Ummm” Tony says. “Thanks? I guess?”

His father hives him a short nod before getting back to his paper.

Tony opens the fridge and pulls out the milk, his mind seemingly racing a million miles per hour.

* * *

**~18 Years Old~**

“What’s this?” Steve asks as he is handed the envelope.

Tony sits down on the edge of Steve’s bed and buries his head in his hands. “I think you know” he says.

“Actually, Tony, I don’t” The bed dips as Steve sits down beside him. “What’s in this?”

“Open it” Tony mumbles into this hands.

“Yeah, I’m kind of getting the feeling that I don’t want to. That I’m not going to like what’s in it.”

One of Steve’s large hands drops down onto his shoulder, warm and comforting. _‘God, I don’t deserve it.’_ He thinks to himself, _‘I’m going to break his heart’_.

“It’s money, Steve” he says.

“What?” Steve asks, voice small and confused. “Why? Tony?”

“You know why. You’re not stupid, Steve, don’t act it”

Steve’s hand is removed from his shoulder, leaving it feeling cold and bereft. “Don’t do this” Steve whispers, his voice cracking.

“What other option is there?” Tony asks, removing his head from his hands to look at Steve. He regrets it, watching as the tears fill Steve’s eyes, but he’s doing this for them. “I’m barely going to be in America the next few years, Steve! I’m going to be studding abroad with MIT Global, as well as travelling with my father around the world learning how to take over STARKIndustries.”

“We can make it work, Tony.” Steve begs “Please”

“No we can’t.” Tony says. “Steve, please… We’re barely going to see each other. We are barely going to have time to talk. That’s… I don’t want to watch our relationship suffer, Steve. I don’t want us to resent each other.”

Steve wraps his warms around himself protectively. “There has to be another way” the man says.

“There isn’t.” Tony whispers. “We should end things here while we’re still good. You’re my best friend, Steve. I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t” Steve sighs. The man eyes the envelope resting on the bed. “What’s in it?” Steve asks.

Tony sucks in a deep breath and holds it. He counts to ten before releasing it slowly. “Money”

Steve gives him a deeply hurt look. “Why? Ton-”

“Nothing like that, Steve. It’s enough to pay for university and on-campus residence.”

“I can’t take it, Tony” the man says, trying to hand the letter back to Tony.

“Steve… I want to you have it, okay. I know things have been hard after-… after you mom passed. Especially money. I just-… I want you to be looked after, Steve. And I’m not going to be around to do it. So I want to do this for you, Steve.”

“I don’t know, Tony. It’s- that’s a lot of money.”

“Not to me, Steve. I have a lot more. I don’t care. I need you to have it. It’ll be better put to use helping you than sitting around in some bank account. My family has more money than sense.” Tony Says, “You’re amazing, Steve, I know you think that you’re not, and that you’re just some average guy. But I don’t believe that, not for a second. You really are something special, I know you are going to change the world, make an impact. You just need a little help getting there. Keep the money”

“Okay.” Steve whispers. “Okay. I-… I’ll keep it.”

“Thank you” Tony says, leaning in for one last kiss. Steve meets him half way, wrapping an arm around Tony’s shoulder to hold him close that bit longer.

Pressed against Steve’s chest he feels the man start to shake as he loses his fight against the tears. Tony wraps his arms around Steve’s waist, and holds him close as he cries, rocking him back and forth in his arms.

The tears burning behind his own eyes begin to fall as well. He tucks his face into Steve’s shoulder and lets himself cry.

“Promise you’ll keep in touch?” Steve says as he wipes away the tears from his face.

“I promise, Steve.” Tony says. “I’ll call you so much, you get sick of me”

“I’ll never get sick of you, Tony” Steve whispers.

“You say that now” Tony laughs. “Just wait.”

“I’ll say that always”

“I’m going to miss you, Steve, so much. I-…I love you”

It was the first time he said it. And it was going to be the last too. But he wanted to say it, just once. So that Steve knew. Fresh tears start running down his cheeks.

Steve lets out a small pained noise, breaking down into tears again himself. “I love you too, Tony” he says.

And with that, Steve leaves. Whispering a quiet goodbye.

Tony rolls over and buries his face into his bed, letting himself cry as loud and hard as he could. His heart broken in his chest feels like someone pouring hot acid into his guts.

He wants nothing more to run out of his room and chase Steve down. Tell him that he’d changed his mind. That they could still be together. But this was what was best for them. He saw what happened between Rhodey and Kamrynn. He didn’t want that Steve and himself.

Distantly he’s wonders how he’s going to break the news to his parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I cry writing the last scene? Yes.

**Author's Note:**

> ~✨~  
>   
> ⋆Other sites I'm on are linked in [my profile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DepressingGreenie/profile).  
>   
> ~✨~


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